There’s new information about the armed driver who led police through counties on a dangerous and wild chase Friday.
At times it looked like he was on the phone with someone, and NBC4 was able to track down that person in an exclusive interview.
High school teacher Joshua Ross will never forget his 37th birthday. It was Friday and he was planning to meet his girlfriend for dinner.
“The whole time if I had just gassed last night, this never would have happened,” Ross said.
It was at a Corona Shell station that Ross was carjacked by 44-year-old Benjamin Gonzalez, who then took Ross’ beloved pickup truck on a dangerous, armed chase.
Inside Ross’ truck, all of his belongings, including his cell phone that Ross’ girlfriend says he called during the chase.
“I said ‘hey baby’ and I hear an unknown voice on the other end and they say, ‘sorry, I had to take your boyfriend or your husband’s truck,'” said Ananda Mallory, Ross’ girlfriend.
Mallory says for 30 minutes she tried to keep Gonzalez on the phone so her location could be tracked. Mallory, who is also a teacher, says he spoke to her in a humanizing way, as she does with her students.
“I always tell my kids a calm body, a calm mind,” Mallory said. “He started telling me ‘none of this matters, the police will kill me, this is my last day here’.”
Mallory says she heard gunshots as Gonzalez fired at the pursuing officers. He says he also held his breath when he quickly reached an intersection where school children were crossing the street.
“I immediately went into teacher mode, I said, ‘Don’t you dare, don’t you dare, if your kids see this, they need to know that this is what you care about,'” Mallory said.
In the end, the driver was arrested and no one was seriously injured.
Ross has been unable to return to work as a teacher, and his family has set up a GoFundMe account to help him get a new car.
He is grateful for his life and his girlfriend’s heroic actions.
“She was a hero, I think once she was in certain situations, she would have reacted differently if I hadn’t been talking to her,” Ross said. “She’s good at calming me down.”
